Jungkook had decided to stop by at the pub for a bit and say hi to Kelly. He also wanted to tell her that Taehyung had been discharged from the hospital that morning. But when he finally managed to spot her in the crowd, it was to see her run after a blonde girl who was clearly crying. Jungkook decided it was better if he didn’t follow them. That left him alone at the pub, so he had a quick drink and left. He was on his way back when he saw Kelly waiting at the bus stop a few blocks from his home. She looked worried, and was playing nervously with her long, red hair. Jungkook walked over and waved his hand in front of her when she was too lost to notice him. That made her gasp and look up.

“Jungkook!” she exclaimed, startled. Jungkook smiled and sat next to her.

“Yep that’s me. I saw you leave the pub earlier. Promise I didn’t follow you.”

Kelly gave him a weak smile. “I know. I had…an emergency. Sorry I couldn’t hang out with you.”

“It’s no problem…” Jungkook hesitated. “Is everything okay though?”

Kelly didn’t answer. She continued to play with her hair. Jungkook decided to not push the matter further and leaned back on the bench, gazing at the stars above. It was a clear night, and cool air brushed across his face. He felt so much better today. His best friend Taehyung was healed, Baekhyun seemed to have calmed down from his revenge-fueled anger, and had also received a few job interview calls. Jungkook loved sunsets and fresh evenings. Since he was a kid, he preferred looking at stars over running through the sunshine. While he observed constellations, he didn’t see Kelly look at him, curiosity in her brown eyes. She finally broke the silence.

“My best friend is upset. She has been like that for a while. I wish I could help her, but I don’t think I can.”

Jungkook turned to look at Kelly. “Why can’t you help her?”

“I’ve been trying. It hasn’t worked so far…”

“It might be working, sometimes results take time to show.”

Kelly sighed. Jungkook made her feel optimistic, which was nice for a change. She was usually the one trying to make people feel better by trying to show them the positive side of things. Even when she didn’t believe herself sometimes.

“I hope you are right Jungkook. She’s my unnie too, so sometimes she thinks of me as a child and even when I try hard to help her she might think I am just being a kid.”

“Maybe you should tell her your concerns then.”

“Yeah, I might do that. I just don’t want to burden her, you know. It’s like… she knows she is struggling. I don’t want to confirm it for her. I am always the one trying to make her believe she is getting better, hoping that she’ll actually feel that way if she believes it long enough. But if I just go up to her and say, um I think you’re a trainwreck, it’s not going to help her self-esteem you know? She already hates herself so much.”

Jungkook laughed softly. “There are better ways to go about it, instead of, um I think you’re a trainwreck.”

Kelly couldn’t help but smile softly. “Haha, yeah. You’re right. I’ll think over it.”

Jungkook nodded and leaned back to look at the stars again. “You know when I was young my mother would tell me I was a star. She would point at the super bright one over there, Sirius. She said I should look at it and aspire to shine that bright.”

Kelly smiled and joined Jungkook at gazing at the sky. She liked how he didn’t push things and helped her get her mind off worries. “That’s sweet,” she said.

“Yeah, I miss her a lot. She had cancer.”

Kelly gasped. Jungkook just chuckled softly.

“No, no, don’t worry about it. It was a long time ago, and she was always open with me about it. So it was never a matter of shock. I know that might sound strange to some, but my mother’s death was something she prepared me for, and she always taught me that goodbyes shouldn’t be sad. That they were just a way to start something new. And what we let go of, or lose, is not in vain because that is what prepared us to be ready for the new things about to come, you know?”

Kelly looked at Jungkook. Was this why he looked so much at peace all the time? He wasn’t afraid of two things most humans feared- goodbyes and death. He felt her eyes on him and turned and looked back at her, his deep black eyes merging with her soft brown ones. His gaze drifted down her slender nose covered with light freckles, her soft pink lips, a cute, rounded chin, and then back up to her eyes. He didn’t miss the much pinker cheeks.

Kelly looked away. Jungkook’s eyes were bottomless. They were dark and arresting, and while he studied her reddening face, she couldn’t do much other than stare back. She took a deep breath as the bus turned around the corner. The bright lights illuminated Jungkook’s face and created shadows on his sharply angled face. She looked at how his eyelashes brushed his cheeks as he blinked. Shaking her head she stood up and wiped the front of her skirt even though there was nothing there.

“Thanks for your advice Jungkook. I’ll see you around I guess.”

“See you soon Kelly,” Jungkook whispered as Kelly boarded the bus and the bus sped off, leaving him in the calm of darkness.

…………………………………………

Seunghyun couldn’t believe it. He had never been this nervous before. He stood in front of the mirror, trying to see if his blue shirt was too blue to go with his hair. Dammit, I need Kelly right now.

It was as if the gods had answered his prayer. Kelly danced into the room, her hair in a big towel. She had just gotten out of the shower, and smelled like lemons. That reminded Seunghyun of someone else who smelled like lemons, and a bit of crushed sugar. Blushing furiously, he pushed Jiyong out of his mind and turned to stand in front of Kelly.

“What do you think?”

“About?” Kelly asked, absentmindedly. She was flipping through a magazine.

“My shirt!”

Kelly looked back at Seunghyun. “It’s okay.”

“Just okay?”

“Gosh Seunghyun, it’s just a regular shirt. It’s fine. Why do you ask?”

“Because I…” Seunghyun stopped. He wasn’t ready to tell anyone. It’s not like there was much to tell. He himself had no idea what was going on. He tried being all suave and smooth around Jiyong, but Jiyong had NO idea how much he affected Seunghyun. All that confidence was a fake mask to conceal his raging crush. Goddammit.

Kelly was still staring at him.

“Um, I… have an event.”

“An event?”

“Yes. Now, does this look nice? I have another shirt I can show you.”

“Seunghyun, this one looks nice for your date. I think you’re good.” Kelly replied.

“Ah, okay. Thanks Kelly.” And then it hit him. “What do you mean, date??”

Kelly just grinned and pretended to be seriously reading the magazine even though she was just looking at an advertisement.

“You know what, damn you Kelly. I am outta here.”

“Have fun with your daaaaate!” Kelly yelled as Seungyun walked out the room. “Don’t scare her too much!”

Her. Seunghyun chuckled. She had no idea.

………………………………………………………

Jiyong wondered if it would be acceptable to call Seunghyun 10 minutes before their dinner and cancel? He could go, “Seunghyun, I feel sick”, or “Seunghyun, I think I might pass out”, or “Seunghyun, I don’t want to see you because you freak me out” in a good way, said a small voice in Jiyong’s mind. Shut up, he said aloud to no one in particular and went to sit in the living room. He didn’t want to explain to his mom, so he decided to be the one to open the door and get out of the house before his mom could make her way to the door. A few minutes later, the bell rang. Jiyong took a deep breath and waved his hand in front of his face to reduce the redness in his cheeks. As expected, it did not work, so Jiyong just gave up and walked to the door. I wish we had just met at the restaurant. It was a mistake to let Seunghyun organize the whole thing. According to him, leaving together in his car was important to the plan. Ah well, it’s too late now. Jiyong reached up and opened the door.

Seunghyun stood in the foyer. His powder blue hair was tousled softly with gel, but it still looked natural and fell in waves around his forehead. He wore a simple cotton shirt the same color as his hair, and deep blue jeans. He was dressed simply, but he still looked nice. Older. Handsome. Jiyong slapped himself mentally. He seemed to do that a lot around Seunghyun.

Seunghyun grinned at Jiyong. “Hi,” he said softly. Jiyong just smiled shyly in response.

“Ready?” he asked when Jiyong didn’t say anything. Jiyong nodded and walked out quickly. Too quickly, because he walked right into Seunghyun who hadn’t moved. They toppled backward, but Seunghyun put his arms around Jiyong’s waist to hold them both steady. Jiyong’s cheeks were on fire, and he couldn’t help but admire Seunghyun’s faint scent of blueberries and fresh grass. He slowly let go of Jiyong who turned around to hide his face and bolt the door.

When he was done, his eyes met a highly amused Seunghyun. “Ready, J?” he asked, smiling. Jiyong sighed. There was no turning back now. “Let’s do it,” he said.